U.S. coal mining deaths: 1900-2019
Here are the number of coal mining deaths in the United States, from 1900 through 2019.
The average annual coal mining fatalities in the United States the past decade has fallen by approximately 60% starting in the 1990s. It has dropped nearly 43% from the 2000s.
China's coal mining deaths
For a quick comparison, let’s look at China’s coal-mining death toll vs the United States over a span of 10+ years:
The data on deaths per 200,000 hours of work for Chinese miners is not available. However, the data on deaths per 1 million tons of coal shows that Chinese miners die at a rate approximately 20 times that of the USA death rate. Chinese fatality rates have been declining beginning in 2003. However, their rates remain extremely high when compared to the United States.
For example, when comparing 2007:
- China had a death rate of 1.485 deaths per 1 million tons of coal.
- United States had a death rate of 0.04 per 1 million tons of coal.
Let’s look at 2009:
- China had a death rate of 0.849 deaths per 1 million tons of coal.
- United States had a death rate of 0.02 per 1 million tons of coal.
U.S. coal mining death charts: 1900-2019
| Year | Total Miners | Miner Deaths |
| 1900 | 448,581 | 1,489 |
| 1901 | 485,544 | 1,574 |
| 1902 | 518,197 | 1,724 |
| 1903 | 566,260 | 1,926 |
| 1904 | 593,693 | 1,995 |
| 1905 | 626,045 | 2,232 |
| 1906 | 640,780 | 2,138 |
| 1907 | 680,492 | 3,242 |
| 1908 | 690,438 | 2,445 |
| 1909 | 666,552 | 2,642 |
| 1910 | 725,030 | 2,821 |
| 1911 | 728,348 | 2,656 |
| 1912 | 722,662 | 2,419 |
| 1913 | 747,644 | 2,785 |
| 1914 | 763,185 | 2,454 |
| 1915 | 734,008 | 2,269 |
| 1916 | 720,971 | 2,226 |
| 1917 | 757,317 | 2,696 |
| 1918 | 762,426 | 2,580 |
| 1919 | 776,569 | 2,323 |
| 1920 | 784,621 | 2,272 |
| 1921 | 823,253 | 1,995 |
| 1922 | 844,807 | 1,984 |
| 1923 | 862,536 | 2,462 |
| 1924 | 779,613 | 2,402 |
| 1925 | 748,805 | 2,518 |
| 1926 | 759,033 | 2,234 |
| 1927 | 759,177 | 2,231 |
| 1928 | 682,831 | 2,176 |
| 1929 | 654,494 | 2,187 |
| 1930 | 644,006 | 2,063 |
| 1931 | 589,705 | 1,463 |
| 1932 | 527,623 | 1,207 |
| 1933 | 523,182 | 1,064 |
| 1934 | 566,426 | 1,226 |
| 1935 | 565,202 | 1,242 |
| 1936 | 584,582 | 1,342 |
| 1937 | 589,856 | 1,413 |
| 1938 | 541,528 | 1,105 |
| 1939 | 539,375 | 1,078 |
| 1940 | 533,267 | 1,388 |
| 1941 | 546,692 | 1,266 |
| 1942 | 530,861 | 1,471 |
| 1943 | 486,516 | 1,451 |
| 1944 | 453,937 | 1,298 |
| 1945 | 437,921 | 1,068 |
| 1946 | 463,079 | 968 |
| 1947 | 490,356 | 1,158 |
| 1948 | 507,333 | 999 |
| 1949 | 485,306 | 585 |
| 1950 | 483,239 | 643 |
| 1951 | 441,905 | 785 |
| 1952 | 401,329 | 548 |
| 1953 | 351,126 | 461 |
| 1954 | 283,705 | 396 |
| 1955 | 260,089 | 420 |
| 1956 | 260,285 | 448 |
| 1957 | 254,725 | 478 |
| 1958 | 224,890 | 358 |
| 1959 | 203,597 | 293 |
| 1960 | 189,679 | 325 |
| 1961 | 167,568 | 294 |
| 1962 | 161,286 | 289 |
| 1963 | 157,126 | 284 |
| 1964 | 150,761 | 242 |
| 1965 | 148,734 | 259 |
| 1966 | 145,244 | 233 |
| 1967 | 139,312 | 222 |
| 1968 | 134,467 | 311 |
| 1969 | 133,302 | 203 |
| 1970 | 144,480 | 260 |
| 1971 | 142,108 | 181 |
| 1972 | 162,207 | 156 |
| 1973 | 151,892 | 132 |
| 1974 | 182,274 | 133 |
| 1975 | 224,412 | 155 |
| 1976 | 221,255 | 141 |
| 1977 | 237,506 | 139 |
| 1978 | 255,588 | 106 |
| 1979 | 260,429 | 144 |
| 1980 | 253,007 | 133 |
| 1981 | 249,738 | 153 |
| 1982 | 241,454 | 122 |
| 1983 | 200,199 | 70 |
| 1984 | 208,160 | 125 |
| 1985 | 197,049 | 68 |
| 1986 | 185,167 | 89 |
| 1987 | 172,780 | 63 |
| 1988 | 166,278 | 53 |
| 1989 | 164,929 | 68 |
| 1990 | 168,625 | 66 |
| 1991 | 158,677 | 61 |
| 1992 | 153,128 | 55 |
| 1993 | 141,183 | 47 |
| 1994 | 143,645 | 45 |
| 1995 | 132,111 | 47 |
| 1996 | 126,451 | 39 |
| 1997 | 126,429 | 30 |
| 1998 | 122,083 | 29 |
| 1999 | 114,489 | 35 |
| 2000 | 108,098 | 38 |
| 2001 | 114,458 | 42 |
| 2002 | 110,966 | 28 |
| 2003 | 104,824 | 30 |
| 2004 | 108,734 | 28 |
| 2005 | 116,436 | 23 |
| 2006 | 122,975 | 47 |
| 2007 | 122,936 | 34 |
| 2008 | 133,828 | 30 |
| 2009 | 134,089 | 18 |
| 2010 | 135,500 | 48 |
| 2011 | 143,437 | 20 |
| 2012 | 137,650 | 20 |
| 2013 | 123,259 | 20 |
| 2014 | 116,010 | 16 |
| 2015 | 102,804 | 12 |
| 2016 | 81,485 | 8 |
| 2017 | 82,843 | 15 |
| 2018 | 82,699 | 12 |
| 2019 | 81,361 | 12 |
China mining death charts: 1900-2019
| Year | Chinese Miner Deaths |
| 2000 | 5,300 |
| 2001 | 5,670 |
| 2002 | 5791 |
| 2003 | 7200 |
| 2004 | 6027 |
| 2005 | 5986 |
| 2006 | 4746 |
| 2007 | 3786 |
| 2008 | 3215 |
| 2009 | 2631 |
| 2010 | 2433 |
| 2011 | 1760 |
Resources & References
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